: Should I upconvert low-res images to 300dpi for printing? I'm having a custom deck of cards printed using images of varying resolutions. The card printer asks that all images be at 300dpi, the

@Vandalay110

Posted in: #BestPractice #PrintDesign #Resize #Resolution

I'm having a custom deck of cards printed using images of varying resolutions. The card printer asks that all images be at 300dpi, the industry standard for printing. Certain images that I've uploaded have triggered a "low resolution" warning in the printer's interface. The source images are typically much larger than the size they'll be printed, which will be roughly 2"x2". While I understand the generalities of image resolution v. image size, I'm wondering if it's best to:

A. Upconvert the resolution from, say, 72dpi to 300dpi, resampling the image so that its size remains intact (it will be shrunk down to be printed on the small card).

Or

B. Upconvert the resolution but don't resample, so the image shrinks. The problem with this is many of the images will then be much smaller than their target print size.

Or

C. Change the image size to be smaller, not resampling so that the resolution increases and hopefully gets closer to 300dpi

It probably goes without saying that the goal here is the best looking printed image. Forgive me if this is the wrong forum for this question, but I didn't find a better place. I'm happy to provide additional information that I may have left out.

Update:

I should perhaps also allow for an option D:

Leave the images at their current resolution, as they will be printed much smaller than their image size and their low resolution will be unnoticeable.

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